SAFE SPACES BLOG

Heartening to see some positive reports from people trying to make their way off the streets,, rehab. 48 people working in part time em-ployment . 5 in permanent employment. But safe spaces and all homless initiatives will nmly succeed on a large scale when business starts to get involved. Ngos and the city cannot do it alone but its heartening to see.

This kind of empathy from City of cape town social services is really ground breaking ! Shelters please take note . What a beautiful day and congratulations to the new couple !

A homeless couple, Llewellyn and Cecelia Jenniker who have been dating for at least 30 years have finally tied the knot at the homeless shelter called, Culemborg Safe Space in Cape Town. In the pic the couple have their first dance performed by local artist, Noor Abrahams. Picture: Tracey Adams/ African News Agency

Our questions to CoC Social services Social Worker Lorraine Frost and her answers:

1) who is the contact person for admittance L does it have to go through DSD? No, this is a City run programme being administered by the Street People Northern Area Reintegration Team. The first point of contact is our office at 29A Strand Street or Mr Cookson on 021 417 0513

2) is the come and go the same as haven shelters ( if one doesnt get back in time more than 2 or 3 times you can no longer readmitted ? )We do have set criteria for our safe space however are not as stringent as the shelters. If the person is registered at the safe space they can enter from 5pm. Should a person not return within 7 days we cannot keep bed space as the demand for space is too high. All clients are informed of the criteria.

Then what are the rules for that? and is there a list of rules one can find for the safe space?Basic rules – No drugs; no weapons; no alcohol; no animals. Entrance from 5pm, persons to leave site daily by 9am unless attending programmes on site. No fires on site. No cooking on site we are encouraging NGOs and donors to donate food to the space.

THE FIRST SAFE SPACES CoC at Culembourg has arrived2ND TO THE pvt mes SPACES BELLVILLE.A FURTHER R26 million initial investment by BUSINESS and CITY WILL ALMOST ENTIRELY END DANGEROUS SLEEPING AND OVER BEARING LAW ENFORCEMENT COSTS . WE NEED IDEAS HERE ARE SOME. Well done to city of cape town. 11 guests so far accomodated and by mid july 230 in total hopefully. One can imagine the deficit with over 6000 on the streets without shelter and no shelter space of course. See also the MES safe space project in bellville that was done privately for 1 million rand. This is not beyond the realm of business to contribute in perhaps more imagaintive ways in terms of also creating work for people stying in safe spaces until housing can be found for them ....(the big crunch but tshwane is doing it so why cant cape town ?) R26 million rand could end street sleeping overnight. Business could benefit from immensely as A USA city albuquerque proved. That the most conscientous productive working force sub section of society- is the Homeless. With by far the most drive. We could build such spaces next to entertainment venues , next to factories. that could be cleaned by people or people could get employment in so they would not have to walk and beg during the day ....so many ideas are possible.SEE MORE ON CULMBORG SAFE SPACES READ MORE MES Bellville safe space at http://www.mes.org.za/ind…/2015-11-17-13-25-02/mes-cape-town.